Reece James was pleased to mark his return to action by helping Chelsea to victory over Morecambe in the FA Cup, a competition he wants to see the Blues compete in as we look to lift the famous trophy for a ninth time in our history.
The skipper started the victory over the League Two Shrimps, featuring for 45 minutes as planned after recently recovering from a hamstring issue.
James impressed in his first-half cameo, alongside fellow returnee Romeo Lavia, before the duo made way for Malo Gusto and Marc Cucurella respectively.
While delighted to be back, James focused on the pitch action when reflecting post-match and made his intentions clear. He wants to lift the FA Cup with the Blues in May.
‘It was a big win for us,’ the skipper stated when reflecting on the victory.
‘We’ve had a few tough results in recent weeks so to record a big win at home in front of our fans is very pleasing and hopefully we can build on this now.
‘The FA Cup is a special competition. There’s a lot of tough teams in the hat but also there are teams at the lower end of the pyramid that can cause you problems.
‘The manager made that clear to us before the game, we had to prepare right and attack the game with the right mentality and we certainly did that.
‘Of course we have [aspirations of winning the FA Cup]. No matter what competition we enter, we want to be there right until the very end and that’s the same here.’
The Blues are next in action against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Tuesday, a quick turnaround for Enzo Maresca’s side.
Whether James will be involved against the Cherries remains to be seen, but the skipper was just pleased to be back on the grass and helping his team-mates to victory in a positive step forward.
‘I was pleased to be back out there and playing 45 minutes was always the plan,’ added Reece.
‘I’ve been out for a little while, I’ve obviously wanted to get back out there to help the team and we felt that this looked a good fixture to do that.’